Harbaugh won’t remain Captain Conservative

The riskiest move Alex Smith made Sunday didn’t involve a pass, but a toss to Frank Gore in which Smith was the lead blocker.

That play resulted in a 12-yard gain, the second-longest of Gore’s 22 carries, and was also one of the few creative offensive wrinkles the Niners offered in their 33-17 win over the Seahawks (Note: I’m including the tackle-eligible Adam Snyder shift as the other wrinkle).

Those eagerly anticipating an offense that would evoke memories of the 49ers’ past got it all right. But the attack was reminiscent of their most recent history.

You know, Jim Hostler. Jimmy Raye. Few yards. Not many points. Gore up the gut on an endless loop.

Not. Good.

It was all there Sunday as the Niners ran on 62 percent of their offensive plays, threw for 124 yards (fewest since Nov. 12, 2009), gained 209 yards (third-fewest in their past 32 games) and called unsuccessful runs on four third-and-3-or-longer situations.

Still, Jim Harbaugh has dismissed any suggestion that San Francisco’s season-opening game plan was conservative, buttoned-up, cautious, risk-averse or however you prefer to characterize 32 Runs vs. 20 Passes.

“I don’t agree that it was conservative,” Harbaugh said on KNBR this morning. “We’re playing to win at all times.”

This, naturally, begs the question: Has Jim Harbaugh lost his mind?

And replaced it with Jimmy Singletary’s?

I would offer that Week 1 was not a harbinger of endless off tackles to come, but a reflection of Harbaugh’s desire to tiptoe into the season opener against a visiting opponent starting Tarvaris Jackson. In other words, Harbaugh wanted to avoid duplicating preseason pass-protection calamities while putting Smith in bubble wrap/”a position to succeed.”

And, after taking a first-half lead, Harbaugh had little reason to reverse course.

This brings us to a natural follow-up: Why doesn’t Harbaugh concede the obvious and admit that a conservative game plan (which resulted in no sacks, no turnovers and a win) was conservative?

Here, I would offer that this reflects Harbaugh’s desire to do — or say — anything that will result in “a .1-percent chance of getting better.”

Or, in this case, anything that could keep the Cowboys in the dark on the .1-percent chance they truly believe Harbaugh plans to keep the 49ers forever stuck in the ’70s.

As for being compared to Jimmy Raye between Weeks 1 and 2 as a result, this is Jim Harbaugh.

He famously brushed a kid off the plate in Little League (it was a girl). He kept his players on the field farthest away from several thousand adoring fans (and a lone spy?) during the Niners’ last public practice of the summer.